In iCIMS’ recently published U.S. Hiring Trends Q3 2015 report, we reviewed employer and job seeker behaviors within the United States across all industries, geographies, and company sizes. The quarterly report, which is compiled using iCIMS customer data representing approximately 4,500 organizations, unveiled conclusions about recruitment performance in the third quarter (Q3) of 2015.

The gaming and leisure industries both had an overabundance of applicants in Q3 2015, with practically double the amount of applicants entering the hiring pipeline per open position. The telecommunications, food and beverage, and energy industries also had a surplus of applicants than required to fill open positions in Q3, with ratios of 1.84, 1.82, and 1.53, respectively. This meant a more competitive climate for job seekers looking for positions in these industries. On the other side, the transportation and distribution and charitable organizations and foundations industries both had a shortage of applicants in Q3 2015, with 0.5 and 0.6 applicants entering the hiring pipeline per open job, respectively. The engineering, government, and real estate industries also have fewer applicants than open positions in Q3 versus other industries. This meant lower competition for job seekers looking for positions in these industries.

2. More than a million people used their social media profiles to apply to jobs

To gauge the role of social networking tools such as LinkedIn, Google+, and Facebook in the job application and hiring process, we looked at the number of applications submitted with these social networks in Q3 2015. Out of more than 11.5 million applications submitted throughout Q3 2015 approximately 1.1 million (almost 10 percent of all applications) were submitted using social media profiles. The computer services industry stands out with the highest percent of applications submitted via social networking tools. Nineteen percent of all their applicants applied with social media profiles. LinkedIn was the most common social network candidates used to apply to jobs across all the industries followed by Google+ and Facebook. About 63% of these applications were submitted via LinkedIn, 21% via Google+, and 16% via Facebook.

3. The industries with the most and the least applicants vs. available jobs shifted from Q2 to Q3.

While minor fluctuations in talent trends exist thus far in 2015, the top industries—gaming, leisure, and telecommunications remained consistent over the last two quarters of the year. The exception is the food and beverage industry, where a slight shortage of applicants was observed in Q2 before almost doubling to a surplus in Q3. This is perhaps due to the demand of seasonal summer hiring for that industry. In Q3 2015 the gaming industry moved to the top with the largest pool of applicants compared to open positions (2.13 applicants per open job) after coming in second behind the leisure industry during Q2. The charitable organizations, engineering, government, and real estate industries all continued to suffer from having fewer applicants than open positions to fill in Q3, declining from Q2. The transportation industry saw a slight increase in the average number of applicants vs. available jobs.

As these changes continue to impact the way job seekers search for the right roles and employers approach talent acquisition, iCIMS will continue to analyze its data and provide insights into the hiring landscape on a quarterly basis. Want to know how your industry is performing compared to others? Click here to check out the full report and learn more about the recent trends happening in talent acquisition.